


Painted Faces

by chroniclackofselfpreservation



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Background Relationships, Cute, Death of a Parent, Gen, Heartwarming, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Past Character Death, amputee mother, child!suki, idk of there’s cannon parents for suki so I improvised, just suki being an adorable child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29460939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chroniclackofselfpreservation/pseuds/chroniclackofselfpreservation
Summary: Suki is set to begin her training to be a Kyoshi warrior in a few months. Her problem is she can’t wait that long...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Painted Faces

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr, here's [the post](https://chroniclackofselfpreservation.tumblr.com/post/643126310120669184/childsuki-writing-prompt)

Suki glanced down at the fist-sized, wooden warrior figure Todi had been nice enough to paint for her. He was a kind-faced man with shoulder-length hair who, along with his wife, Kiyoh, watched the children of the Kyoshi warriors while they were out on missions. She sat at the edge of their porch, staring out at the watery horizon line and watching for the first hint of the returning ship. The warriors had gone to aid Yoyoka in ridding some stubborn bandits from their trade routes. 

“What’re you doing?” another one of the children, Shuta, asked, approaching. Suki looked up at him, then returned her gaze to the ocean, resting her chin in her hand. 

“Watching for my mother.”

Shuta shifted on his feet. “...Okay, well, do you want to maybe play warriors with me and Pato?” he asked, holding up a painted wood figure of his own. 

“No, thank you,” she sighed. She held up the one in her hand. “Do you want it?”

“Sure,” Shuta said, a little warily as he took the figurine. Suki glanced over her shoulder as he retreated back inside. Todi was watching her with some kind of adult expression she didn’t completely understand, but something in his face told her he was about to come and give her a lecture about being patient. Suki was seven. In a few months, she’d finally be allowed to start her training to become an official Kyoshi warrior like her mother. Some days, she was so excited and impatient she thought she’d explode. None of the adults on the island seemed to understand that. 

Todi turned to say something to Kiyoh, and Suki took the opening to slip off the front steps and around the side of the house. 

She heard Todi calling her name, but didn’t look back.

* * *

Suki pushed the front door of her house open with a soft creak. As much as she hated waiting around at Kiyoh and Todi’s for days on end while her mother was out, there was something strange—and almost sad—about the house when her mother was gone. It wasn’t the biggest house on the island, that was for sure, but they were reasonably comfortable. 

There was plenty of room now that it was only two of them. Mother visited Mama’s grave nearly every day she was home. Suki only went grudgingly, and when she was forced to stare at a pile of stones that were somehow supposed to make her feel better, she didn’t speak more than a few words for the rest of the day. It had become a point of contention between her and Mother. Suki liked to think that Mama was everywhere now, watching over her shoulder and making funny faces to try and cheer her up. She didn’t see how stones and a patch of dirt were better than that—but if it helped her mother feel close to her, then she supposed it wasn’t all bad. 

Making her way to the back of the hut, Suki ducked beneath the thick green canvas tarp that served as the door to her and her mother’s room. Their twin sleeping mats lay against the far wall, but Suki wasn’t here to take a nap. She padded across the rough wooden floor to the dark green chest in the corner, the edges and joints reinforced with brass fittings. Holding her breath, Suki lifted the lid. 

The chest was mostly empty, since her mother was on a mission and was currently wearing her uniform and armor. In the bottom corner sat a tiny box that Suki lifted out carefully before closing the chest again. Trotting to the other end of the room where a frameless mirror leaned against the wall, she sat down cross-legged and nested the box in her lap. Opening it up, she pulled out small, circular containers of red, white, and black face paint and three brushes of varying sizes. 

Suki had watched Mother put on her warrior make up hundreds of times. She’d memorized each step, each brushstroke. She scooped some of the white paint into her fingers and began rubbing it into her cheeks, across her forehead, down her jaw. This paint was special, Mother had explained once. It doesn’t flake off when it dries and doesn’t smear if it gets wet. Once her face was completely covered, Suki picked out the proper brush and dipped it in the container of crimson paint. She held it up to the inside corner of her eye, but her hand wasn’t steady, and several drops fell and speckled her cheeks like fiery freckles. Suki pressed her lips together and ignored them, pressing the brush to her eyelid and doing her best to copy what she’d seen Mother do. 

When she at last finished one eye, Suki stared at her lopsided face in the mirror. Her eyes began to blur with tears. She looked stupid. This was a stupid idea. 

“Suki?” Mother’s voice called from the front room and Suki jumped, knocking over the container of red paint. Nearly half of it spread across the floor boards before she could right it again. 

Mother pulled the curtain aside. “Oh, there you are. Todi couldn’t find you any—what are you...?” she trailed off, noticing the tears rolling down her daughter’s white and red face. 

“I’m sorry,” she hiccupped. “I just wanted to—to try it, an... and I knocked over the red stuff—”

“Hey,” Mother crooned, lowering to her knees even in all her armor. Her fans glinted from their place at her waist. Her face paint was perfect, as always. Suki thought that out of the rest of the warriors, she looked the most like Avatar Kyoshi—even though her left arm cut off at the elbow. “It’s okay. Look, there’s still some left,” she said, pulling off her glove and reaching for a rag to wipe up the spill. 

Suki looked away, wiping her tears away and then starting, looking at the back of her hand to see if she’d smudged and ruined it further. Her hand was clean. “I’m not allowed to wear it until I get my armor,” she whispered. 

“That’s true,” Mother said, picking some stray white paint out of her hair. “We wear this paint both to honor Kyoshi and so other people know we’re there to help them. Wearing this paint is a big responsibility, Suki. Once you put it on, you have to be ready to put yourself in harm’s way for someone else.”

“I... I just wanted to be pretty like you.”

Mother looked at her carefully, the gold tassels on her headpiece framing her face. “Do you think I’m only pretty when I wear my paint and armor?”

“What? No!” Suki cried. “You’re the prettiest lady on the island!”

“I feel the same about you, Suki,” Mother said, walking over to the chest and pulling out a dark glass bottle. She knelt in front of Suki again, pouring some of the thick syrupy liquid into her palm and beginning to rub it into her daughter’s painted face. “The paint doesn’t make anyone prettier than they already are,” she explained, gently wiping the now pinkish paint from her face. “Give yourself time. You’re almost there.”

“Okay,” Suki said, blinking as Mother finished cleaning her face. 

Mother sat there, looking at her for a long moment before taking her hand and standing up. “Come here,” she growled with a smile, sweeping Suki off her feet and swinging her around to her back with one arm. Suki squealed with delight, latching onto Mother’s back and clambering up onto her shoulders. 

“Watch your head,” Mother said as they ducked out of the room and out of the house, starting down to the center of town. Suki hugged Mother’s head, playing with the tassels, feeling the smoothness of her shoulder pads beneath her legs. Several townspeople waved hello to them as Mother walked down the main street, her boots crunching in the early winter snow. 

At last, they arrived at the statue of Avatar Kyoshi at the center of the village. Suki looked up at Kyoshi’s face, unable to keep the excited smile from her face. 

“One day, you’ll be able to look at this statue in full paint and armor,” Mother said. “And that day _will_ come, Suki. I’m sure of it.” 


End file.
